Game 45 Preview: Columbus Blue Jackets @ Ottawa Senators

After winning three straight on their road trip, the Ottawa Senators return home to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night. The teams last met just three days ago when the Sens came out on top with a 2-0 shutout victory. Take note of the earlier start time today, with the puck drop taking place shortly after 5:00pm EST.

Coach Guy Boucher provided a quick update earlier this afternoon and announced that he will go with the same lineup as last night, with Mike Condon getting the start again. Here are the expected lines and pairings for the Senators.

Smith - Brassard - Stone
Dzingel - Turris - Ryan
Hoffman - Pageau - Pyatt
Kelly - Lazar - Neil

Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Claesson - Wideman

Condon (starter)
Driedger

• Kyle Turris will be playing in his 500th game this afternoon, 363 of which have been for the Ottawa Senators.
• Turris is still riding a hot streak with seven points over the last six games.
• The Blue Jackets are still holding onto second spot in the powerful Metropolitan division after a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes yesterday.
• Bobby Ryan loves playing against Columbus, leading the team with 11 goals, 14 assists, and 25 points against them. With that said, he was held off the scoresheet in their last meeting three days ago.
• Both teams are on the back-end of back-to-back games. This year, Ottawa is 5-1-0 in the second game of back-to-backs while Columbus has a record of 5-2-3 in such games.
• A strange coincidence for this game, both teams hold identical records of 15-5-2 when being outshot. #TheSystem
• Mark Stone needs one more assist to hit 100 assists in his career.
• Mr. Takeaway - Mark Stone leads the league with 60 takeaways this season, 17 more than second-place Connor McDavid.
• Erik Karlsson is second in the league with 118 blocked shots, five back of Kris Russell who is holding onto top spot.

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from Corsica.